Edinburgh... Our Last Day in Scotland. (And Today a Day At Sea).

Yesterday we anchored near Edinburgh, Scotland. The weather was cloudy but the rain from the night before had stopped so I was able to get some photographs before we went ashore. 

The Royal Princess is too tall to go under the Edinburgh bridges and into the port so we rode on a tenders to the Queensferry Pier.  

Once on shore we boarded a tour bus that took us around the city pointing out the many landmarks
  

 
  

  

 

including several dead volcanos.  350 million years ago Scotland and the UK had many active volcanoes. they along with the glaciers of the iceage helped to create the beautiful landscape of Edinburgh, Scotland.

We had a photo stop in the hills above the city and it was here that we hid the first bottle in a wall along the road. 

We then proceeded on the the Scottish Museum where we spent nearly two hours exploring the wonderful exhibits.  

The building itself was very beautiful on the inside.

  

This is Dolly the cloned sheep.

There were many exhibits from ancient Scotland.

Items made from bone.

 Leather and cloth that survived. The shoes below were dated back to 100 AD.

 

  There were exhibits on rituals, and beliefs concerning death.

 There were also exhibits on coins that were really cool.

There was a very cool section on animals, birds and sea cratures.

This is the skull and jaw bone of a sperm whale that washed up on the beach.

This room had a T-Rex skeleton, and an assortment of other ancient and current animals, birds, sea creature and insects.

There was also a very cool clock that played music and had a bunch of moving parts.

After the museum the tour bus headed back to the Queensferry pier but since the ship wasn't due to leave for nearly six hours we knew we had plenty of time to have lunch in Edinburgh as well as shopping and sight seeing.  We chose a local pub called the Greyfriars Bobby to have our lunch.


The restaurant, Greyfriars Bobby, is named for a little dog "Bobby" that lingered loyaly by the grave of his Master (a former policeman) who was buried in Greyfriars churchyard for nearly 14 years until his own death. There is a statue outside of the restaurant or the small dog and people rub his nose for good luck.

It took nearly 90 minutes to get our food, and my fish and chips weren't very good,
but we had a couple of shots of good Scottish Whiskey while we waited so that was nice. 
  

After lunch we walked around the streets of Edinburgh stopping in several little shops. We hid our second bottle behind an iron fence across the street from the University of Edinburgh.




I also found a sterling silver Luckenbooth brooch in a tiny antique shop. I was hoping to find one in Edinburgh as a souvenier. The Luckenbooth brooch got its name from the “locked booths” that sold trifles along the Royal Mile near Saint Giles Cathedral in High Street, Edinburgh. The Luckenbooth is one of the most romantic Scottish symbols of love (similar to th Irish Claudaugh ring), from the 17th century and often given as a token of betrothal, affection, friendship, and luck. It is usually in the shape of a heart or two entwined hearts, symbolizing love, with a crown, symbolizing loyalty, topping the heart(s).   
Here is the one I bought.


Once we were done shopping we ducked into a tiny cafe and the owner was nice enough to call a private car (since it was rush hour and we were having trouble getting a taxi) he even got us a 20% discount on the fair. We had a nice conversation with the driver who was born and reasied in Edunburgh as he drove us back to the Queensferry dock where we got a tendor back to the ship.




Today is a day at sea...literally there is nothing to see but sea (and the occasional oil rig)

Tomorrow morning we dock at La Havre where we will have a three hour bus ride into Paris.  [Note: I am fighting off the symptoms of a cold (with cold meds, tea and shortbread, and relaxing in the cabin). I am hoping to hold it off until we get home Tuesday but Paris may have to wait for the next trip if it turns into a full blown cold.  A long bus ride with a cold would be unfair to the other people on the bus.]